Differences
by Temari-Desert-Storm
Summary: Lightning and Hope. Teacher and student. Soldier and scholar. Two different people who are so alike that they find themselves drawn together as the history of the world begins to fall apart. Hope/Lightning. AU FFXIII-2
1. Lightning's Worries

**Lightning's Worries**

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><p>Time passes slowly when you have nothing to do. Lightning Farron found this out the hard way.<p>

After the fall of Cocoon, the remnants of the government took over care of the citizens and most of the work of establishing new cities and towns on the world of Gran Pulse went to the military. Even Snow's ragtag group NORA was taking part in the building efforts, planning to recreate was much of Bodhum as possible at a lake near the fall site. The idea seemed good, but Lightning questioned it practicality. Her sister, Serah, had convinced her otherwise, which was an easy task for the younger Farron. Lightning had a soft spot for her sister, though she was loathe to admit it to anyone, which was part of the reason why she had consented to Serah marriage to Snow so soon after her awakening. She agreed, though, only on the condition that everyone Serah planned to invite was available. And, knowing Serah, she planned to invite _everyone_.

"Lightning, I'd feel bad if I forgot anyone," Serah had explained when she'd shown her sister her list. "I want everyone who helped both of you to be there."

Lightning did her best not to mention that half the people who had helped their misfit bunch of l'Cie were dead, knowing the thought would upset Serah more. The thought alone pained Lightning herself, thinking of the people who wouldn't be there. Vanille and Fang, the two who most deserved to be present, were sealed up in the crystal pillar supporting Cocoon, having sacrificed themselves to save everyone else from the impending crash into the planet below. No one else knew of their sacrifice, which saddened Lightning even more. Twice they had become Ragnarok, the monster of destruction, and twice they had chosen to spare the people of Cocoon rather than leave them to oblivion.

The thought kept Lightning awake at night, leaving her restless and irritated in the morning. That on top of all the idle time she had, put her in a worse mood than she'd even been in. No one needed her help, not the military or NORA (not that she wanted to help them) or anyone. Even Serah was too busy to spend much time with her. Lightning spent most of her days wandering the surrounding areas, hunting animals or gathering plants for food. Fang had taught her what to avoid when they had last been on Pulse, so no one had gotten sick from any of her spoils. Serah had adapted to the odd materials quickly and had prepared, even from the first day, delicious meals.

The rebuilding efforts took a long time, even with the tools that had been salvaged from Cocoon. There were few who were willing to go back there, so foraging was scarce, meaning that trips to get materials were undermanned and long. 'New Bodhum', as Snow affectionately called his little town, had progressed the farthest, with fully-functioning public buildings and a few houses. As NORA ran the town and many of the Cocoon citizens still saw NORA as a bunch of rebel rousers, the town was inhabited by those who were considered Snow's friends. Sazh and his son, Dajh, lived on one of the houses, Lightning and Serah lived in another, and most of NORA lived in a third. Hope lived with his father in one of the larger, unfinished cities, but he often spent time in New Bodhum, the NORA members taking a fast liking to him when they learned why Snow had such an easygoing relationship with him.

Hope's father, Bartholomew, constantly apologized, as if he was foisting his son on them instead of making sure he wasn't alone when the official was working for days on end. The new government that Bartholomew was helping to found, the Academy, was taking up a lot of time. He had told Lightning once that he regretted at times his decision to work on it, knowing that he was only continuing to tear the rift between him and his son.

Lightning never saw much of Hope, too wrapped up in her hunting to see him. Nothing in their daily lives brought them together, and she realized that she missed him, wondering how he was doing. It surprised her when, on typically boring morning, she found him lying on the beach, the small stretch of sandy ground between the town and the lake. His hair was a ruffled mess and his bare arms were covered haphazardly in bandages. He was breathing heavily, and didn't notice her approach.

"What are you doing?" she asked, cringing that her words came out stricter than she had intended.

Hope was startled, his breath catching for a moment as he pulled himself together and sat up, confusion on his face for a second before he spotted her, smiling. "Hi Light."

She looked down at him, hand on her hip. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, this?" He raised his arm too look at it. "It's… a bit of a long story."

"I have time."

He hesitated. "You… won't get mad, will you?"

"I won't," she answered, wondering what he could have been doing that would make her mad at him, or that he thought would make her mad.

"I've been practicing… magic."

"Magic?"

"I know we lost that when we stopped being l'Cie, but Vanille told me when we were in Oerba that before the war, there were people who could actually use magic without being l'Cie. I wanted to try it out."

"And the bandages?"

"I was trying to use healing magic, but it didn't work out too well. I can get it to work a little, but not enough to fully heal."

"You've been cutting yourself?" She felt anger rising within her, but she kept it out of her voice, controlling herself. It bothered her that he would risk himself in such a silly venture.

"Not much," he replied quickly, "so don't get angry. I stopped when my dad found out, so I'm just wearing these until they heal. I figured I'd practice attack magic instead, but I don't think anyone would be happy if I burnt down the house, so I' m trying to cast a fire spell out over the lake."

"Any luck?"

Hope chuckled. "Get me a log and I'll bring you a torch in an hour or two."

She cracked a half-smile, pleased by his miniscule progress and his humor. She was actually surprised that he had managed it, but part of her knew that she wasn't fully surprised by this. His father had told her that Hope had become very curious and had developed a deep love for knowledge. There was so much potential that some of the other scientists of the Academy were constantly suggesting that Hope be integrated into an investigation, though Bartholomew's stance was clearly against it.

Beside her, Hope stood up, stretching out his spine with a grunt. "I don't think I'll be making any more progress today."

"Any plans for the day?"

"Not that I know of… Why do you ask?"

She stood up as well, tapping the handle of her gunblade with the heel of her palm.

Without having to say a word, Hope picking up on her message and nodded in consent. The two set off out of the town into the wilds, leaving the beach behind to clamber over rocky ridges into the tress and grasses that had been untouched in the building of the town. Lightning had thought she would need to slow down, but Hope kept up with her fine, using the open spaces to close the gap between them.

The walk took over an hour and Hope was nearly out of breath by the time Lightning pulled to a stop, her boots firmly placed on the rocks. Below her, the cliff dropped off sharply, the ground below covered in deep shadows that hid something even she dared not discover.

"We won't be getting across here," she mumbled, seeing the other side fifty feet away. She hadn't brought her Grav-Con Unit with her, having never seen the need, and even if she had brought it, it only worked for one person.

Hope looked tentatively over the edge. "Never knew this was here…"

"Now we know. Best to head back and work in another direction."

They turned around and started heading back, but Hope stopped. "Light?"

"What?"  
>"Why did bring me out here? You wouldn't have come this way if it wasn't for me."<p>

Lightning paused, thinking it over. Why had she brought Hope with her? True, she hadn't spoken to him in a while, but for her, usually a short conversation was enough. Had she been testing? She felt like she was, but testing him for what? If he still retained his fighting skills? If he could keep up with her? He had asked a valid question, but she wasn't sure she could answer it.

A sound caught her attention and she drew her weapon, flicking the blade out and turning towards the trees, where she thought she had heard it. Behind her, Hope drew his boomerang and took another step back, ready to engage whatever-it-was from a distance. Neither of them expected a Behemoth King to come charging out of the brush at them. Lightning dodged out of the way just in time, but Hope's opportunity to move was cut off as it snapped its teeth into his side and dragged him over the side of the cliff.

"Hope!" Lightning picked herself up and ran to the cliff side, seeing the large beast plow its way along the shadows, hearing Hope's cry of pain with every jostling tread of its feet. She sprang off along the cliff after them, running as fast as her body could carry her, her muscles burning and her legs sore, pushing herself to keep up with the creature.

The land gradually sloped upwards, granting Lightning a chance to jump down into the valley, right on the creature's tail. She could see blood dotting the grass, trampled underfoot, making her already beating heart beat faster. 'Hope won't last much longer if this keeps up,' Lightning realized, her mind racing to find a way to stop it, and soon.

Her prayers were answered as the land sloped back down suddenly and the cliffs ended, closing the creature in. Lightning attacked, jumping onto it back and slicing into its hide. It dropped Hope, causing him to let out as gasp of pain as he hit the ground. She jumped off and shot it as it turned, landing on the ground and shooting it again. She had never had to fight one on her own, but she wasn't running away.

It charged at her and she rolled to the side, slicing up through its leg. It roared and turned to snap at her, but she shot it in the mouth and hopped away as it howled in pain. It took a swipe at her and she backed against the wall. She jumped over it second swipe and landed on its back, stabbing her blade into the hide near its spine. The Behemoth bucked and twisted, but Lightning had pushed the blade in deep and her hold was firm. Finally, it pitched upwards, throwing Lightning back into the air, her grip unprepared. Her gunblade remained in its back and she landed on her back, momentarily stunned as it turned to her on hind legs and pulled the massive spiked blade from its back, stepping towards her.

Suddenly, a giant orange light flared from behind the creature and it turned slightly, just enough for Lightning to see Hope leaning against the rocky wall for support, the residue from the magical fire sparking around his hands. The Behemoth King turn and stepped towards Hope, but Lightning sprung out and grabbed her gunblade, twisting it and ripping it out to cause the most damage possible. It howled and turned back, swiping at her, but she dodged under it as the blade swung up, thrown off kilter by another fireball to the back. She hopped up and slashed it across the face, another deep blow, spilling lots of its blood in sharp trails along the ground as it roared and swung its blade around in a frenzy. Lightning dropped back and shot it once more, aiming for its head wounds, and it collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

Hope let out a sigh and dropped down against the wall, grimacing in pain, holding his side. Lightning jumped over the felled Behemoth and ran to his side. She could see the tears in his shirt, the bloodstain covering most of his chest and spreading down his legs. Dropping down, she pulled off her white vest and yanked his hand away from the wound, pressing the waded-up piece of clothing to his side.

"Hold this here," she instructed sternly, pushing his bloody hand against the fabric. "Keep the pressure on it."

The moment she moved her hand, though, Hope did the same. "Light-"

"Hold it!" She pushed his hand back. "I'm going to get help."

"Light, just-"

"Stop arguing with me and do it."

"But Light-"

"No 'buts'-"

"Light-"

"Just listen-"

"_Claire_!"

Lightning stopped, looking up in surprise to meet Hope's eyes. They were clear, concentrated, calm, not even a slight sense of panic on his face. This brought her up short, unable to break the eye contact between them, something striking about his composure that held her back.

Hope was the one who broke contact, looking down at her hands on his. "I'm fine, Light. Look." Slicing her hands off, he lifted the edge of his bloody shirt, showing her the bare skin of his side, wet with semi-wiped blood, a curved row of white scars where his skin had torn. "I healed it," he said simply, as if it answered all her concerns.

She stared for a moment before her eyes met his again and he smiled slightly, only touching the edges of his mouth in a hesitant, curious way. "You're not mad, are you?"

Lightning, to her own surprise, smiled and laughed. "You always think I'll be mad at you. I'm just glad you're okay."

"'Alive' would work better. I'd hardly say I'm 'okay'," he said, trying to stand up. He grimaced in pain and dropped back down, clutching his side. "I stopped the bleeding, but I think some bones are still broken."

"Then we'll get you back to town." Lightning helped him to his feet and they clambered over the felled Behemoth King. "But tell me one thing."

"What is it, Light?"

"How do you know my name?"

"Barthandelus said it when he was disguised as Serah, remember? I asked her about it afterwards and she told me."

"Hmm…" was her only response, mentally noting that she would talk to Serah about it later.

"Light?"

"What now…?"

"What about the Behemoth?"

Lightning smiled. "I'll send someone to drag it back. We'll have Behemoth steaks for dinner."

"As long as you're not cooking them, it sounds good."


	2. Hope's Fears

**Hope's Fears**

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><p>Hope never knew if he was prepared for it or not, but there had never been time to contemplate it. They had made their choice to fight, to change their fates, and he didn't want to die. He had realized he had so much more to live for now. He had mended his relationship with his father, he had somewhat overcome his grief of his mother, and he knew what he didn't want to leave the world behind. He had made friends (albeit that they were all much older than he was) that he wanted to get to know more. They had become so close, so important to each other, that he didn't want to let them go. <em>I don't want to die now<em>, he decided, _because now I know who I am_.

The blinding light of the Narthex was so painful to his eyes after the dull light of Orphan's Cradle that it baffled him, the existence of two drastically different places being connected together. The door that opened before them seemed to drop off into nowhere, the wall too far back in the empty space. Hope hesitated, nervous, but everyone pressed on and he joined them. They were fighting for their freedom. Vanille noticed his hesitation and gave him a reassuring smile. It helped to relieve some of his tension, but not all. They were facing the final hurdle, and it was all over if they couldn't make the jump.

As they expected, Barthandelus was waiting, telling them the same words he had spoken before: that they had to give in to despair and become Ragnarok. They had to fulfill their Focus to destroy Orphan and cause the destruction of Cocoon and its entire populous. The thought made Hope shudder, knowing that they would be killing so many innocent people. The people wanted to live too, he realized, just like they did, free to live without being the toys of the fal'Cie. Barthandelus fought them fiercely, with much more power than he had only a few hours ago. Hope fought at the back with Vanille and Sazh, firing off offensive and defensive magic and throwing his boomerang as support while avoiding the majority of the damage. Lightning, Fang and Snow dealt massive physical blows, chipping away at Barthandelus' form bit by bit. Finally, they attacked together and Barthandelus collapsed, sinking into the watery pit behind him.

The lull that followed was so comforting that Hope felt his heart nearly stop. Had they done it? Vanille surely thought so. Lightning didn't. She hadn't lost her fighting composure for a second, and her intuition was always right.

The pool ripped and a figure rose from it, two voices speaking at once. Hope could hear Barthandelus, feel his gaze upon them, but the other presence was more haunting, more vile. He had no doubt that it was Orphan, the fal'Cie they had been tasked with destroying. The time to enact their Focus had arrived.

Orphan fought back ferociously, slashing and casting powerful magic that Hope could feel even all the way across the room. He countered every spell with one of his own, switching between offence and healing as it was needed. His hands were shaking through the entire battle, his nerves putting him on edge. The only solace he had was that he wasn't fighting alone.

The battle seemed like it would last forever, but it finally ended and Hope took a relieved breath… until he broke out of his stupor and realized that they hadn't won. Orphan was still standing, almost untouched. Even Lightning seemed exhausted, but Hope could tell it was more frustration than anything. He knew she didn't like wasting her energy. Orphan was distressed at their failure, repeating that the only way for them to succeed was to become Ragnarok. That was their purpose, and destruction was all Orphan wanted. L'Cie were created to make use of human potential. Humans could do anything, Orphan explained, whereas the fal'Cie could only do what was within their power to accomplish. Only L'Cie could destroy Orphan, and only Ragnarok was powerful enough.

Fang, suddenly, seemed to change before Hope's eyes. She turned on them, betrayed them, and claimed she would become Ragnarok. All of them tried to stop her, but before Hope could even think of anything to reply with, before his mouth could formulate words to speak, a sharp, excruciating pain flared in his arm. It choked the air out of him, strangled him as he looked down and saw something that made his heart stop in his chest. His hand, where his Brand was etched across his skin, was covered in dark crystals, not coating his hand but sprouting from it, grafted to his skin. As he watched, more crystals sprouted, not growing from the others but tearing up from under his skin, ripping through it. His arm burned with a fire so intense that Hope could barely manage the breath to gasp in pain. He couldn't scream. He couldn't shout. He couldn't breathe. He struggled to draw gasping breaths as best he could, more fiery pain shooting up his arm and through his entire body as more and more of his arm crystalized.

His vision began to go as he tried to look around for the others, searching in vain. His arm grew heavier as more and more crystals sprouted from it, dragging him to the ground with its weight. The crystals reached his shoulder, sprouting out of his joints and digging into the side of his head. He didn't notice. He could barely feel anything other than pain. His chest heaved with breaths he couldn't take, his head swimming with blood that his panicked heart couldn't pump to his arm. His ears couldn't hear anything but his own thundering pulse and the sickening crackle of crystal scraping against crystal. His eyes had reduced everything in his vision to blurs.

The crystals sprouted from his feet, crawling up his legs. He wanted to scream, to cry, but his body couldn't even accomplish that. For the first time in his life, Hope experienced true fear. It wasn't the fear of death: he had experienced that before. There was no comparison. He was afraid, not of dying, but of living like this forever, living with the pain and suffering that he couldn't express. He was trapped within his own fragile form as he was being torn apart.

They sprouted from his chest with such ferocity that Hope actually managed to scream, but what he heard wasn't his own voice. He heard the hollow, echoing, distorted cry of a Cie'th, out of tune and suffering. He had heard the cries before, many times. They had faced many Cie'th on Pulse and throughout Eden. He knew that Cie'th were mindless creatures, enduring endless suffering, and knew just what he was becoming.

Crystals shattered into being along his neck, across his face, and Hope went blind and deaf, seeing without eyes and hearing without ears. He could hear Vanille's cries, but there was nothing he could do. He could see shapes, sense things, but he had no eyes anymore, feeling as if they were welded shut. The crystals sprouted up along his other arm and he fell onto the floor, clawing at the ground with his fingers until he had fingers no longer. His transformation into a Cie'th was complete.

To Hope, the world was an abyss. He couldn't see anything at all. He couldn't hear anything but his own echoing, distorted breath. He couldn't feel anything but pain. He wanted to die so badly that even the pain of his existence was insignificant to the power of his desire. He couldn't even think. His mind was so clouded that even becoming Ragnarok would have been a blessing. If he could have, he would have scolded himself. Nothing would be worse than becoming Ragnarok. He could feel Ragnarok's power, feel its sadness, and knew instinctively that Ragnarok was a much worse fate.

Hope didn't want to die. He didn't want to be a Cie'th. He wanted to live life as he had before. He wanted to return to simpler times. He didn't want to destroy Cocoon. He wanted to see his father again. He wanted to see everyone smiling again. He wanted… to be _Hope_ again.

Suddenly, everything flashed before his eyes, everything he remembered in his life, becoming clear as if he was watching them for the first time.

His mother and father.

Palumpolum.

People he had gone to school with.

The fireworks at Bodhum.

Being rounded up for the Purge.

Watching his mother die.

Vanille.

Snow.

Sazh.

Lightning.

Serah turning to crystal.

The fal'Cie.

Lake Bresha.

Lightning.

Odin.

The Grappa Whitewood.

Snow.

Fang.

His father.

Cid.

Barthandelus.

Bahamut.

Lightning.

Alexander.

Vanille.

Atomos.

Oerba.

Eden.

Lightning.

A black world filled with waves of darkness.

Serah lying limp in the arms of a young man.

A deep feeling of dread filled Hope's chest as he could breathe again, feeling the skin of his face touch the floor. He could hear Vanille's voice, pleading. He could hear Fang, screaming in agony. But he was himself again. He could feel again. And he could fight again.

Hope stood up, feeling all the agony that had assaulted his body melt away like a dream, and joined his friends for one last fight, a fight they could never lose.


	3. Lightning's Jealousy

**Lightning's Jealousy**

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><p>Lightning could feel the new uniform was too tight on her, the tugging at her chest every time she took a breath an obvious indication that whoever had measured her had done a lackluster job. She didn't know how anyone expected her to participate in any kind of combat dressed like that, but she knew that they didn't expect she would see any combat.<p>

Out of boredom and stagnation, Lightning had sent in a request to join the military division of the Academy, hoping to get something to do in the process. Serah had suggested that Lighting settled down, but even as a joke, the thought made Lightning cringe with disgust. The only thing Lightning knew how to do was fight, something her perfect-wife sister could never understand. Any mention of 'marriage' around Lightning resulted in arguments and only served to make the older Farron remember how horrible she had done as a parent to her sister. Serah had ended up taking care of _her_. Lightning didn't want to spend another five years mooching off her sister's happy marriage. So, she decided to put her only skills to use.

Because of her prior military training, she had been enlisted as a Major and had been given command of a small unit, though she discovered quickly that 'commanding a unit' for the Academy meant 'collecting reports from a group of people you might only see once a month'. Most of her subordinates were all stationed in areas of Pulse or Cocoon to help with Academy work, while one or two were bodyguards to officials within the growing Academy research center, a small collection of buildings affectionately called 'Academia'. Lightning herself had been called in to fill a position as head of security for an Academy research project, a prospect that didn't please her. She didn't want to be mindlessly guarding intellectuals day in and day out for months. However, orders were orders, and Lightning could do nothing but report in to her superior's office when she was called.

"Major Farron?"

A voice snapped Lightning out of her reverie and she looked up, meeting the eyes of a young woman with long brown hair. She looked intellectual, thick glasses perched low on her nose. When their eyes met, the woman flinched and recoiled slightly.

"As summoned," Lightning replied bluntly, her arms crossed over her chest. She was leaning against a wall, hoping no one would notice how tight her uniform was.

The woman gulped silently, adjusting her glasses higher up on her nose. "I-I was sent here by the director to get you. He apologizes for not being able to meet you personally, but he-"

"Fine." She pushed off the wall. "I need to speak with him about the security arrangements."

"Certainly. This way."

The woman led Lightning down a hallway. She could hear voices in every room, snatches of conversations catching her attention, but she kept her eyes forward, following the woman as she headed down another hallway and stepped outside. There was a large truck outside the building, and a number of people were loading boxes and containers into the back, yelling directions and profanities around. The woman bowed to excuse herself and ran forward to meet someone standing near the truck, Lightning's heart catching in her chest.

She could see the familiar white hair from across the space, a little longer than she remembered. Hope was taller, older, no longer a skinny teen. She scolded herself internally for letting that fact surprise her; it had been years since she had last seen him, giving him a characteristically neutral goodbye nearly seven years before, only a week after Serah's wedding. When he hadn't returned, Lightning thought nothing of it. She knew everyone had to move on with their lives eventually. She caught herself staring a moment after their eyes met and his face lit up with a smile, scolding herself again for the second time in a minute when something in the back of her mind told her he looked rather handsome in his Academy uniform.

Hope said something to the woman, who nodded and ran off to help load the truck, before he jogged over to Lightning, trying to hide the smile on his face and failing. When he stopped in front of her, he opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, instead adopting a serious demeanor. He saluted her briskly. "Director Estheim of Section 13. I've received orders that you're to be the replacement for the head of my section's security."

"You certainly look surprised," Lightning muttered, folding her arms across her chest. The thought of Hope noticing her uncomfortable uniform made her heart beat faster.

The smile returned to his face, as if it had never left. "I didn't know you had joined the Academy, let alone that we'd be working together."

"I joined six months ago."

He shrugged sheepishly. "I've been in the field for the past year. I haven't received many communications from headquarters. The only reason I came down here was to personally see that the new security division head for my sector was qualified."

"And I guess you're satisfied?"

"Very. You know the region as well as I do, so I'm not worried." Someone shouted from the truck, and Hope turned his head to look behind him. Lightning noticed his boomerang in a pouch on his uniform before he turned back to her. "We're ready to go." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to the rear of the truck. "Care to join me?"

She glanced at the truck's cab. "You're not driving?"

"Not allowed. Academy orders… especially after my father found out I almost got crushed by a fal'Cie the last time I operated machinery. Besides, I'd feel bad taking the comfortable seats when I'm not helping move the supplies."

Not questioning it further, Lightning piled into the back of the truck across from Hope, pulling one of her knees to her chest so that she didn't accidentally kick him. It was a tight squeeze either way, nestled in next to the supply crates, but she made the best of it, settling down to watch the buildings fade into the background as the truck drove off. Across from her, Hope leaned against the crates and stifled a yawn.

"You're a little young for a section director," Lightning commented casually, the silence growing uncomfortable. The only sounds were the light hum of the truck engine and the slight rattle of the crates, but they were insignificant enough that Lightning's senses started acting up, jumping at every little sound that came from the front of the cab. There was a conversation going on in there, but she could only make out sounds when someone raised their voice.

Hope chuckled. "I've been told. The Academy hires based on skill, so believe me when I say that I earned my position the hard way. They made me a section director because I'm apparently the top expert in my field."

"And what are you studying?"

"Time," Hope yawned, "and paradoxes."

Lightning glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. He was staring out the back of the truck, scanning the horizon, despite the fact that his eyelids were drooping. He looked like he'd been awake for hours, and she wondered what exactly had him worked up enough to lose sleep over. "Time?"

Hope hummed a yes, leaning his head back against the crates.

'How do you study time?' was her next question, but she realized that Hope's eyes were already shut and his breathing had slowed, the young man already fast asleep. Instead, Lightning felt a smile pass her lips before she closed her eyes as well, taking the opportunity to prepare herself for whatever was on this other end of this trip.

* * *

><p>When Lightning woke up, it was twilight, the sun barely peaking over the horizon. The truck was pulling to a stop, the change in velocity probably what woke her in the first place, and Hope was rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He gave her a quick smile and hopped out of the truck while it was still moving, Lightning following him before she realized where they were.<p>

They were in the Yaschas Massif, a long grassy causeway nestled between two enormous cliff faces. Lightning remembered the area well, one of places they had explored thoroughly when they had first come to Gran Pulse. They were at the end of the Massif, where a set of decimated ruins had capped off the pathway like a sunken mine pit at the end of a dirt path. Much to her surprise, however, the disorganized rubble of the ruins had been rearranged, metal ramps and walkways supported by networks of pipes allowing better access to the area. In one corner, a massive golden statue stood in a corner that Lightning had remembered being only rocks.

When she looked over at Hope for an explanation, he returned her glance and started walking. Lightning followed, watching as a group of people ran up the ramps and started unloading the truck.

"This is what I meant when I said that you know the area as well as I do," Hope said suddenly, and Lightning looked at him again, trying to gauge his expression.

"Last I remember, this place was dangerous."

"It wasn't. That Undying Cie'th was still asleep, and we sealed off the area so no one could get in… until a week or so ago."

"Someone went in?"

"Our last head of security. He woke the Cie'th and it rampaged around the camp for a day or so before it just… vanished. The cocoon it was sleeping in disappeared and it hasn't come back. Unfortunately, our last head of security sustained injuries too grave to continue his work, so we waited for him to recover enough to move him and brought him back to base with us."

"And now here we are…" Lightning grumbled, almost feeling sorry for the poor guy she was replacing. They had fought the Cie'th before and managed to drive it back into its cocoon, but she recalled that the six l'Cie combined had barely survived the encounter.

There were loud footsteps clacking up the ramp and Lightning looked over just in time to void getting run over by a yellow and white mass as it tackled Hope, a female voice shouting "Director!" over the sound of all the air leaving Hope's lungs. Hope managed a wheezing breath as he tried to pry himself free from the grasp of the young woman, her tight embrace pinning his arms to the side. "I was so worried that something might happen while you were gone!"

"It's alright, Alyssa," Hope gasped, trying to lift his arms from his sides, to no avail. "We've brought the supplies back, and Lightning here will make sure the site doesn't get attacked again."

"Hmm?" Alyssa finally released Hope, turning to look Lightning over, giving her the chance to do the same. Alyssa looked like a typical Academy employee, dressed in the yellow and white uniform, but she had a mischevious light in her eyes, one that made Lightning instantly dislike her. From the look on her face, Alyssa felt the same. "Lightning, huh? What kind of name is that?"

"It's not any weirder than mine," Hope commented, and Alyssa turned her head to give him a smile before she turned her critical eyes back on Lightning.

Lightning ignored her. "Who is this?" she asked Hope.

"This is-"

"I'm Alyssa Zaidelle, his personal assistant and best researcher in the business - after the director himself, of course," Alyssa interrupted proudly. She bounced over to Hope's side and grabbed his arm, pulling it tightly to her chest. "Come on, director. There are plenty of new reports to go over. I've organized them all for you, but they won't read themselves, you know!" That said, she dragged Hope off down the ramp. He managed to give Lightning an apologetic smile before he nearly tripped off after Alyssa, trying to wrestle his arm out of her grasp.

Lightning wasn't one to judge people solely on first impressions, but she knew right from the start that she hated Alyssa with every fiber of her being and that only her enormous self-control was the only thing keeping her from snapping the woman's neck the next time they met.

* * *

><p>As Lightning had expected, the security for the research site was abysmal, so she spent a few hours going through all the materials her predecessor had left behind, redrawing plans that she would present to the members of her new section in the morning. When she finally emerged from her tent for some fresh air, the sky above was dark, the only light coming from the moon and the faint glow of Cocoon's crystal appendages from the unseen distance.<p>

There was someone standing up near where the Cie'th cocoon had been, and Lightning was going to threaten them a bit when she realized it was just Hope. The closer she got, though, the more powerful the urge became to just stop and stare at him. Why had she never noticed the way his hair seemed to glow in the moonlight or the way it accentuated his eyes, bringing out the lighter tones in them when the sunlight made them seem a darker shade of green? She'd already seen him standing in the moonlight before, back when wandering through caves had rendered their sense of time obsolete, but she had never noticed those things about him. Now that she saw them, she wondered exactly why she hadn't and what had changed to make her see them.

Suddenly Hope twisted, hand on the pouch for his boomerang, to face in her direction. "Who's there?" he asked, his voice clear.

Lightning stepped out of the shadows, hands raised in mock surrender. "Don't shoot. Only me."

Hope relaxed, dropping his hand. "Oh, Light. Sorry. You startled me. I didn't think anyone else would be up at this time of night."

"What are you doing up?" she retorted, hands on her hips.

"Don't give me that," he chuckled, "like I'm up past curfew."

"You might be. I'm thinking of imposing one."

"And miss things like this?" he asked, gesturing up to the moon. Lightning found herself staring at the moonbeams splayed across his face before she managed to follow his gaze. "Besides, I think better at night. Something about the atmosphere of this place…" He trailed off, staring up into the sky.

Lightning watched him for a moment. "You never did explain your research to me. Studying time, was it?"

Her works broke him out of his reverie and he seemed to compose himself again, a passionate light in his eyes. "Yes. I'm studying time, and here is the best place to do it."

"Why is that?"

"This place was once the thriving city of Paddra, a society of people ruled by a young woman who was always named Yeul. The people of Paddra followed Yeul as their Seeress, who would look into the future and see things that would happen."

"The name sounds familiar…"

"Paddra Nsu-Yeul. She wrote some of the Analects we stumbled across. I managed to date some of those documents, and a few of the ones written by Yeul about the war five hundred years ago… date back nearly five hundred years before that!"

"How can anyone predict the future like that?"

"Because the people of Paddra believe in one timeline. When something significant in the timeline changes, the entire future changes and Yeul was said to have seen the new future the moment it came into existence. Her visions accounted for everything from apocalypses to paradoxes, and she recorded them in a device that works in conjunction with that," he pointed over at the golden statue across the ruin, "to display them."

"You don't sound so sure about that last one."

"Only because we haven't found the device that goes with it. All the evidence points to its existence, even documents specifically describing its purpose and design, but we have no idea where it is. It might be buried in here somewhere; it might not."

"And what exactly is a paradox?"

"A paradox is something that's out of place in the timeline. It's something from the past that ended up in the future or something from the future that traveled to the past or even something that changed locations because of a warp in the timeline. Every paradox that occurs changes the future because it has an impact on the time period it appears in. When the cause of a paradox is resolved, the timeline returns to the way it was before the paradox occurred."

"Explain that one."

"Say our meeting here is the result of a paradox. Something changed and we both ended up in the same place at this moment in time. If whatever caused the paradox is resolved, then this meeting would never happen, we wouldn't have met here, and neither of us would have any memory of it ever happening… because, in essence, it never did."

Lightning scowled. "Certainly sounds like I picked a bad question to ask. I'm getting in way over my head with this intellectual stuff."

"Sorry," Hope smiled sheepishly. "I never really get a chance to explain this kind of stuff to anyone, since everyone here knows that as a basic principle. I guess I got overly excited."

"No need to be sorry. I just never knew you were this… nerdy."

There was a moment of silence between them before they both broke into laughter, filling Lightning's chest with warmth. Something about that bothered her, not knowing why such a simple action made her feel so different. It was something she would think about later.

Hope excused himself, saying he was going to sleep, and Lightning wished him a good night before turning to stare up at the moon, wondering just what about it had made tonight feel so different. In the end, she added it to her list of things she was still trying to figure out and made her way back to her tent for some well-earned rest.


End file.
